The final project of my Foundation year, investigating and replicating the evolution of typographic styles and production methods from the Stone Age up to the digital age of today. Research, experimentation and development culminated in the final exhibit piece. I decided to explore this theme for my final major project as I have always been really interested in the history of typography and how visual language has developed over time due to social and technological changes. The same quote, "To communicate the truths of history is an act of hope for the future" by Daisaku Ikeda, was used in each piece so that the changes between the historical eras could be clearly observed, allowing for direct comparisons between the letterforms, colours, styles and production methods. Alongside the final pieces, an accompanying booklet was produced to explain the design and production decisions made, and my sketchbook (spreads of which can be seen below) was available for public viewing.

Stone Age // primal marks made on a slab of stone using the reddish/brown pigmented colours of the era.

Ancient Egypt // hand-painted hieroglyphics on Papyrus, with the quote translated and written vertically as was the writing system
of the time.

Ancient Greece // Greek lettering, the first in Latin script, engraved into marble (ideally, in reality cut out and layered with marble
effect card).

Medieval era // hand-lettering and decoration with inks on aged paper, with special emphasis placed on the gold border and intricate first letter similar to illuminated manuscripts.

Tudor // hand-embroidered Tudor lettering accompanied by the Tudor rose.

Georgian // the first printed type, centrally aligned with a mixture of serif and script fonts split up by rules.

Victorian // similar to posters of the time with hand-drawn and coloured lettering of various sizes, with a gothic circus feel.

1920s, Art Deco // geometric, gold and black arrangement with Art Deco typography.

1970s // curved edges and lines with 'groovy' type and hand-coloured lines.

2010s // modern arrangement of type using digital manipulation software such as Illustrator, emphasising the colour, shadowing and irregular compositions made possible by contemporary technology.

Some of the sketchbook pages from the research stages of this project are shown here:
Example pages from design development are shown below:
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